


Fixing Fate

by Kittyluv2000



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Cupid Lance, Cupid Pidge, Eventual Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2018-10-07 12:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10360788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittyluv2000/pseuds/Kittyluv2000
Summary: Keith hates everything to do with Valentine's Day. He hates mushy, sappy relationships, and does not picture himself in any sort of relationship. Ever. But when an unfortunate 'accident' on his part gets him stuck living with a sassy (and way too cute) Cupid named Lance, he may have to rethink his ideas as he falls head over heels for not only his roommate, but also said annoying Cupid. (Of course, Pidge has a heavy hand in everything that's going on here...)Inspired by a buncha adorable drawings by rachelhuey88 on tumblr (but I saw 'em on Insta).





	1. Cupid in the Classroom

Keith hates February. It's full of overly romantic couples and cheesy gifts and commercials that make him cringe _every time. Especially_ the ones with terrible puns in them. Keith detests terrible puns, and corny jokes, and anyone who makes those kinds of things. And since he dislikes overly romantic stuff, he is _not_ amused when his buddy Hunk starts getting all starry-eyed over a girl he's never noticed before.

“Dude, you literally have not even _spoken_ to her before yesterday! How the hell do you know you like her?!” Keith hisses, leaning over to Hunk, who brushes him off and keeps staring at the back of this girl's head.

“Shush, Keith. You're just salty because _you_ have no one for Valentine's Day.” Keith rolls his eyes.

“I don't _need_ anyone for Valentine's Day! And _you_ are being _ridiculous_ by saying that you have Shay! _You two have never talked before! You've never even noticed her!”_ Keith's voice gets slightly too loud, and he hastily leans back to sit normally before the teacher realizes it's him talking. Hunk is oblivious to every single one of Keith's attempts at conversation, and eventually Keith gets bored and gives up. With nothing to do but listen to the monotonous droning of the teacher, Keith soon gets so bored he just zones out. His eyes unfocus, and suddenly, something that wasn't present before pops into resolution. Keith blinks, refocusing his eyes, and the thing stays. Now that he's seen it, it's not out of his sight range anymore,and he doesn't have to try to be able to see it clearly. Just like all supernatural beings he encounters. See, Keith has the ability to see creatures that would normally be invisible to humans. His roommate, Shiro, does too, so Keith doesn't know what it stems from. No one else have ever said anything about any sort of creatures, so…

Anyways. Keith stares at the newest creature, not sure he can comfortably call it something like ‘creature’. Because this one isn't just _vaguely_ human shaped, like most humanoids he sees. Nope, it _is_ a human, albeit one with small, fluffy white wings coming from its shoulder blades. Keith is pretty sure it's a _he,_ in closer inspection, so he adjusts his thoughts a little. The thing is wearing a _toga,_ and a short one at that, which leaves half his tan-skinned chest and back uncovered and most of his legs. He's also got a bow across his back, slung over his shoulder next to the quiver of arrows. As Keith watches, he strolls over til he's behind Hunk, whistling the Mission Impossible theme jauntily and fiddling with the small, heart-shaped gold clip at the hip of his toga. Once behind Hunk, the guy gauges where Hunk is looking, and grins.

“Nice. Still working. Nice long-lasting arrows, Pidgeon.” he mutters appreciatively, not noticing the human staring _right_ at him from right next to his target. The _being_ \- that's what Keith has decided to call it - floats upwards with a flap or two of its fluffy wings and flies over to Shay. He frowns at where her attention is - the teacher, where it should be - and unslings his bow. Grabbing an arrow from his quiver, the being jabs Shay in the arm with it, floats back over to Hunk, and jabs Hunk with it. The arrow disappears, and Keith watches as Shay’s demeanor goes all relaxed as she is roped right back into having a crush. _So…I'm assuming this is Cupid._ Keith thinks, frowning. _Great. I_ _hate_ _Cupid._ The being is still flying, flitting back and forth between Hunk and Shay to check on them and their obvious daydreaming, and Keith is getting annoyed just _looking_ at him. So when he's close again, Keith reaches out and, pretending he's swatting a fly, grabs his wrist and shoves him so his feet are on the floor. Cupid yelps, wings fluttering spasmodically in shock, and he zips away from Keith a few feet before stopping and scrutinizing him. Piercing blue eyes squint at Keith, judging him with fear buried underneath annoyance and derision. Then, he runs a hand through already-messy brown hair and puts on a ridiculous pout.

“Meanie human. Guess that means you can see me, huh.” Keith nods discreetly, and Cupid groans. “Fine, I don't care, just _don't_ interfere with my job. I am a Cupid, and I'm gonna do what I have to do to not get scolded _again._ That other guy who could see me wrecked everything last time I was here.” Keith frowns. _Other guy…? Could he mean…_

“Shiro?” Keith whispers, curious. Cupid glares at him.

“How should I know?!” With that, he flaps his wings indignantly at Keith and flutters away out of the classroom. It seems like he's done checking up on Hunk and Shay. Keith grabs a sheet of loose-leaf paper from his binder and quickly jots down info and a doodle about the newest addition to his supernatural creatures archive. Then, he pulls out his phone and texts his roommate.

 

**_Sent: 1:32pm: Shiro, have you seen Cupid before?_ **

_Sent: 1:40pm: Yes, I have seen a Cupid. There are more. ‘Cupid’ is the species. If you've seen one, try get rid of it. It doesn't do anything but cause trouble, based on the time I saw one._

_Sent: 1:41pm: Also - quit texting in class. Focus._

**_Sent: 1:42pm: K thanks. I'll be sure to try get rid of it. It's after Hunk. It remembers you btw. Doesn't like you much._ **

_Sent: 1:44pm: Alright. Now pay attention to your teacher. I'll talk to you after school._

 

Keith puts his phone back in his pocket and scowls at nothing particular, making sure he's facing the front of the classroom to put up a façade of paying attention. _So these Cupids are troublemakers. I guess the stories screwed them up._ Soon, the bell rings, and Keith sighs in relief as he heads to his locker to pack up his stuff and head home. Shiro meets him at his locker, greeting him warmly before asking him all about his day as they walk to the bus stop. Eventually, the subject is turned to the Cupid Keith saw, and he explains what he looked like. Shiro nods.

“Yup, that's the one. He was trying to get me and Allura hooked up or something.” Keith raises an eyebrow.

“Allura? _Why_ exactly do you not want that to happen?” Shiro shrugs.

“I just think live should be something that grows, not something that's just shot out of a bow.” At that, someone right behind them starts laughing hysterically, unable to contain their mirth. Both boys whip around to see another Cupid, this one with short, light brown hair and pale, freckly skin. The Cupid adjusts his (her?) big, round glasses and grins at them.

“How do you _think_ love gets started? It _does_ grow on its own. But it's _our_ job to plant the seed!” the Cupid explains, sounding like a smug big kid explaining something obvious to a stupid child. Then, too fast for either Shiro or Keith to react, she (he?) fires two arrows. One hits Shiro. The other hits Allura, who is near the front of the bus. The Cupid hangs around for a bit, making sure the arrows have worked (they have. Shiro looks like a lovestruck idiot.), before giving Keith a jaunty salute and a shit-eating grin and disappearing. Keith has to _drag_ Shiro off the back exit of the bus to keep him from chasing after Allura.

.oOo.

    The more Keith thinks about those stupid Cupids, the more pissed off he gets. _They're ruining everything! Them and their stupid arrows!_ Shiro barely pays attention to him anymore, too busy daydreaming or talking about Allura. It might have been endearing if Keith wasn't so fed up with Valentine's day and all its mushy, lovey-dovey crap in the first place.

It takes a couple days, but eventually Shiro returns to almost-normal. Over the course of those days however, Keith gets so fed up that he actually makes a plan to _catch_ one of the Cupids and make it take back whatever magic the one with glasses put in his brother. Because god _damn_ , a pining, lovey-dovey Shiro is _mortifying._ For _Keith._ Not Shiro, though, and not Allura either. _They're_ too busy making puppy eyes at each other. This plan is why Keith brings a small butterfly net with him to school on Monday. He'd bring a larger one, except he'd look weird…and he couldn't find one at the dollar store. And before school, when Keith meets up with Hunk, he keeps on the lookout for one of the Cupids to drop by and check on either Hunk and Shay, or Shiro and Allura. His patience is rewarded when he spies the one after Hunk around the corner of the school. Excusing himself, Keith chases after him. The Cupid is totally oblivious, only realizing what is about to happen when he hears the butterfly net **_swoosh_ ** as it goes upwards. And then downwards. Then, the net’s handle is wrenched painfully from Keith's hands as the Cupid shrieks, leaping away and trying to fly but failing as the net tangles in his wings. Keith almost feels bad when he sees the Cupid’s wide, wet eyes, filled with pain.

“Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?! What do you humans have against me?!” he keens, trying to grasp the handle of the net. He gets it, but when he pulls on it, he lets out a pained groan and stops. “Get it off! It's wrecking my wings!” Keith folds his arms and glares at the Cupid, who is staring up at him with an accusatory glare from where he's kneeling on the grass.

“Not until you get rid of whatever voodoo you and the other one put on Shiro and Hunk.” The Cupid gapes at him.

“You…don't approve of their love? Are you really so evil you'd deny them their happiness?!” he gasps, flailing melodramatically. Keith is reminded of the over-the-top ‘acting’ the Drama kids do at first. Flailing and yelling and looking absolutely ridiculous.

“Of _course_ not. I want them to be happy. But…I just…” The Cupid gives him a calculating look.

“You just…?” Keith shakes his head.

“They're both just acting super weird. Can they be in love _without_ being oblivious sappy idiots?” A resolute shake of the head, which tosses that brown hair around and doesn't help the messy state of it.

“Nope,” he chirps, popping the ‘p’ and grinning at Keith. “Now. Get my wings out of this damn net.” Keith grins at him evilly.

“Nope.” He pops the ‘p’, and the Cupid looks absolutely shellshocked.

“Hey!” he whines. “That's _mine!_ You can't steal my line!” Then, he pouts. “And Pidge is gone today so _they_ can't help me…guess I hafta rely on _you_ , Mullet Boy.” Keith yelps an embarrassingly high-pitched,

“What?!” at the nickname, immediately protesting in anger. “It's _not_ a fucking mullet!” The Cupid grins and sticks his tongue out at Keith.

“Sure it isn't, _Mullet Boy._ ” Then, he gets up and dusts himself off. Before he can do a thing, Keith grabs the bow and quiver from his hands and stuffs them in his backpack.

“You're not getting these back until you agree to get Shiro and Hunk back to normal.” The Cupid protests loudly, but Keith ignores him. No one but Keith and Shiro can hear the Cupid, so that's not a problem. Then, a thought occurs to Keith. “Wait a second. Can everyone else just see a floating net right now?” He gets a glare for this.

“No. I'm not _stupid._ Anyone who can't see me on their own cannot ever see me at all. So the net’s a part of my magic now.” He falls silent, which Keith appreciates. Until he hears the salty grumbling. “Stupid _humans_ and their stupid _deals_ getting me in trouble…why does it always happen to _me?”_ He still sounds a little whiny, but by now it's mostly just sad, and Keith tells him to shut up before he starts feeling guilty. Shiro gives him a weird look when Keith rounds the corner with a pouty Cupid trailing him, and Keith just shrugs. Shiro turns his attention back to Allura, whom he is chatting with. Keith grimaces. _I can't_ _wait_ _until he brings Allura home and I have to wear earplugs…_ he thinks sarcastically. He turns to the captured Cupid to point out how ridiculous they're acting, just to pause at the big happy grin on his face.

“Look at them. They're so _happy_ together. Do you _really_ want to break that up?” Keith groans.

“I do _not_ want to break them up! I just want them to stop looking like stupid lovesick puppies! It's ridiculous!” The Cupid folds his arms and shakes his head in disappointment.

“But that's how love _works,_ Mullet Boy. They're gonna be like this for a while, a few dates in at least. Once they really get comfy, _then_ they'll start acting totally normal around each other. And we get to see if they're actually a good couple.” Keith frowns.

“Wait, so it might not actually be a good pairing?” he asks in confusion (sounding a little hopeful, too).

“Not necessarily. Love isn't an exact science. It's kind of like gambling.” Keith growls, pissed off.

“So you just pick random people and put ‘em together?!” The Cupid sighs and fiddles with his toga.

“Not the Cupids. The higher-ups do that bit. That's why a lot of relationships don't work out. The higher-ups just _don't understand how love works._ That is also why I get in trouble so often. I make my own couples instead of the ones I'm given. They work out great, but I get tagged as disobedient. And then people like you and Shiro come along and try to ‘help’ me, or hinder me, and I get in even more trouble. The Garrison _hates_ me.” Keith expects the Cupid to look sad, but he's grinning instead. “Not that I care! They're all old geezers with entire _trees_ up their asses! I just gotta make sure _this_ mission ends up well. If I fail this, I get kicked out of the Garrison…” His grin fades, to be replaced by a fearful grimace. He obviously does _not_ want to be kicked out. Keith wonders what the consequences of that are. Then, the bell rings, and Keith forgets all about it in favour of going to school. His roommate is definitely a ‘dad’ friend, and he'll lecture Keith for _ever_ if he doesn't get good grades.

.oOo.

    _C’mon, Pidge, hurry up and get back here!_ Lance thinks desperately, trying again to get the net out of his wings. But all _that_ does is send a spear of agony all the way down his spine, setting Lance into a pain-fueled swearing streak. Glaring at the back of Mullet Boy’s head, Lance peeks over his shoulder and steals a glance at his notes. Keith. Keith Kogane. Lance’s eyebrows raise, and he has to hold his breath to keep from bursting into peals of laughter right then and there. _Oh jeez. If this kid hates people being sappy so much, I can't wait to see his reaction when Pidge gets him that boyfriend he's scheduled for._ Lance grimaces. Sure, it'll be funny, but both he and Pidge are of the opinion that Keith and the other dude - Carl? Kyle? - are _not_ a good match. They're both too _confrontational._ Lance gasps and claps his hands when he sees Pidge at the window, pointing to his tangled wings and pouting. Pidge raises their eyebrows and folds their arms over their chest, which is covered with baggy white cloth. Lance still doesn't know what gender Pidge was supposed to be. But that doesn't matter now, because Pidge is kind of neither and both at the same time now. Lance points at Keith and mimes swinging a butterfly net. Pidge rolls their eyes and gives Lance a ‘just wait’ hand motion. Lance pouts, and turns away, wincing when the sharp movement jostles the net.

“You, Mullet Boy, are a jerk. This stupid net makes my wings hurt.” Keith ignores him.

.oOo.

    Pidge waits outside for a while, watching Keith. He's definitely got a specific set of quirks, which totally clash with his scheduled partner's. Humming pensively, Pidge flaps their wings and goes to find a way inside the building. _I'll have to keep watching all of them for a while._ Because Garrison knows, if Pidge is unhappy with a pairing, they're going to change it. And Pidge is _very_ unhappy with the ‘Keith and Carson’ matchup. They _are_ pretty happy with some ‘Keith and Shiro’ though. Allura may have to go.

.oOo.

    Pidge only gets around to helping Lance after the school day is over. By that time, Lance has followed Keith home, whining and griping enough to get even the super calm _Shiro_ annoyed at him. Pidge is amused by this, and puts off helping Lance again in favour of watching Keith and Shiro interact some more. Shiro is one of the few people Keith is open to, and Pidge really has no idea why the higher-ups would choose Keith a partner he doesn't even know. It's _bound_ to be a disaster. Finally, Pidge flies up to Keith's room, where Lance is distracting him from homework pettily, and clears their throat.

“You!” Keith yelps, pointing an accusatory finger at Pidge as he whirls around to face them. “You're the one that made Shiro all sappy! Get _rid_ of it.” Pidge raises an eyebrow at him.

“No way. Not with the way you're asking.” Keith seethes, turning back to his homework in a huff as Lance runs to Pidge gratefully.

“Thank the Garrison! Pidgeon, you gotta help me get this thing off my wings!” Pidge’s eye twitches, and they spit out an angry,

“No.” Lance gives them puppy dog eyes, something he is really good at doing, and keep asking.

“Oh, c’mon, Pidge. I didn't _mean_ it. The nickname’s just _fun_ . _Please_ help me!” Pidge smirks at that.

“Alright. _Since_ you asked nicely.” Keith definitely notices that, turning his head to look at Pidge with narrowed eyes. Pidge sits Lance down and gets to work carefully extracting his wings from the butterfly net, muttering about how stupid Lance is to have gotten himself stuck in this. Eventually, Pidge gets it out but what's left isn't pretty. There are a few feathers that had to be taken out, and most of Lance's feathers are crumpled in some way. “Crap. Well, Lance, I'm gonna have to pull out some more feathers. Your wings are _totalled._ ” Lance whines unhappily, but stays still. Pidge pulls out one particularly twisted feather and get slapped across the face with a wing as it jerks instinctively. “Okay. That's it. Lay down. That's the third time you've whacked me.” Lance apologizes and lays down. Pidge places a knee on the wing they're currently fixing, and gets to work pulling out wrecked feathers.

.oOo.

    Keith winces yet again as the Cupid - Lance - keens in pain, sound muffled by the pillow he's put over his face. Keith is definitely feeling guilty now, having had to listen to Lance wail in pain for the past twenty minutes as the other one - Pidge - plucks wrecked feathers out of his wings. _Feathers that are wrecked because of_ _me_ _,_ Keith thinks, grimacing. Eventually, Pidge finishes, and Lance sits up.

“Ow…” he groans, gently running his fingers through his greatly reduced wings. “I totally can't fly anymore. I'm _stuck!”_ Pidge nods.

“Yup. For a while, too. Keith. You get to take care of him, since this was your fault. Also, you owe me.” Keith doesn't get to ask why, but he gets his answer when Pidge pulls a specific arrow from their quiver. Lance jumps up eyes wide and horrified.

“Pidge, no! That's not allowed!” he gasps, and Pidge rolls their eyes.

“And since _when_ have I ever obeyed the rules?” Lance has no answer for that, frowning in discomfort at the situation as he sits back down on the bed. Pidge leaves, already nocking the arrow to their bow.

“Wait, what's that one for?” Keith asks. Lance sighs.

“It's the only kind of Cupid arrow that _breaks up_ relationships. I'd guess Pidge is going to break apart Shiro and Allura. They're really against that one for some reason.” Keith grins.

“Yes! Now Shiro’ll quit acting so weird!” Lance just puts his face in his hands.

“The Disappointment Duo strikes again…we're _both_ gonna get kicked out of the Garrison…” he groans dejectedly. Just then, Pidge returns.

“Done. They're just friends now. _Now,_ Shiro is freed up for a _way_ better pairing.” Lance groans again, and Keith is about to tell him to stop whining before he realizes that's not why he's groaning. This time, it's because he tried to lie down and that aggravated his wings. Pidge stares at Keith seriously and says,

“You will be keeping Lance _with you_ or _at this house,_ until his wings heal and I come back to get him, because _you_ owe me, Keith, and Lance needs the cover. Cupids are constantly being hunted down by Galra, which are kind of like demons. We try not to get kicked out of the Garrison because that makes us vulnerable. Capische?” Keith nods dumbly, wondering where the heck Lance can sleep. Lance can apparently read minds, because he pulled up and answers Keith's questions.

“I don't sleep. No Cupids do. 24/7 job, baby! But I _do_ need to eat a little bit. Maybe like once a day.” Keith sighs and puts his head in his hands. _What have I gotten myself into?_ He thinks to himself. But, he does owe Pidge a favour, and it's not like Lance is _that_ much work, right?

.oOo.

    It's Day 3 of Lance Confinement Time, as he's begun to call it in his head. Lance is sitting cross-legged on Keith’s bed, staring through the window across the room. He has half a mind to go close the curtains and hide, but he likes the sunlight. Plus, he’s not feeling the queasy feeling he never fails to get when there are Galra around. So he stays right where he is, almost in a trance as he stares at the slowly drifting clouds in the blue sky. He can’t really control where his mind goes in his current state, lulled into a drowse by the silence of Keith and Shiro’s empty house. So eventually, it gets to the topic he’s always consciously trying not to think of. And he’s so far gone he doesn’t catch it in time to stop it, and he’s swept away like a leaf in a river. (What a fitting comparison.)

_“Ben! Get away from there! The river bank is unstable!” He has told him this so many times. But Ben never listens. He keeps on going back to the riverside, playing in the mud with his little tractors and toys. Getting so,_ _so_ _messy. Lance groans and prepares for a fight as he makes his way towards his brother, walking carefully down the rather steep hill leading to the riverside. He looks down for a moment to place his feet, hears a splash, and when he looks back up Ben is gone. The boy is downstream a ways already, and Lance starts running. He doesn’t care about the mud splashing him, or the roots and knolls threatening to turn his ankle. He dives in, and it’s_ _freezing_ _. Ben is struggling, but he’s young. He can't swim in this current. Lance grabs him. Fights to the edge of the river. Throws Ben onto the shore. Then, a large piece of driftwood hits him, and he goes under. He doesn’t resurface anytime soon enough._

Lance jerks to full alertness, shivering. He feels queasy, and although he’s pretty sure it’s from remembering his own death, he closes the curtains anyways and hides in the corner of the room. What feels like an eternity later, Keith and Shiro return home. Lance gets up, stretching his stiff limbs and heading downstairs to greet them. He’s already shoved the terrible memory far into the depths of his mind.

.oOo.

    Keith enters his house in silence, and Shiro follows soon after. The older man has been silent the whole walk home, apparently still confused in his free time about why he thought he loved Allura that much, and not just in  friend way. Keith hasn't been able to tell him the truth. He doesn't know if he ever will. Because after the fact, he feels _really_ selfish, and is aggressively second-guessing himself. The awkward silence is broken by a happy chirp of,

“Hi, guys! How was your day?” Keith jumps in shock and almost uses some hand-to-hand combat moves before he remembers the Cupid living with him and his roommate now.

“...Hi, Lance.” he says flatly, mentally facepalming. Shiro greets him in a distracted manner, smiling nonetheless and seeming happy to see the grinning, toga-clad kid.

“Good. How was yours?” Keith walks upstairs to put his stuff away as Shiro carries on a conversation with Lance, frowning as he sees the closed curtains. _Do Cupids not like light? No, that's not it…Whatever. I'll ask later if I decide I care enough._ Trudging back downstairs, Keith finds Shiro starting to make supper already, with Lance hopping excitedly next to him as he watches him cook. _Jesus. He's like a friggin’ puppy. Does he_ _ever_ _run out of energy?_ Thus far, the answer is a definite no. Keith is about to go to his room when something occurs to him. He had seen a very strange new creature around lunchtime that day. Maybe Lance would know something about it?

“Hey, Lance? Can I ask you a question?” Lance turns around and pads over to Keith, bare feet sticking a little to the linoleum.

“Shoot,” he says jauntily, grinning at Keith in his _really freaking annoying_ way.

“I saw a weird creature on someone's back today. I did a little sketch, could you come look at it and tell me what you think?” Lance nods, expression suddenly unusually serious.

“Of course.” He follows Keith to his room, and Keith fishes around in his backpack for a bit before finding and extracting his notebook. He flips to the page on which he's doodled what he saw, and hands it to Lance. Lance gasps and his eyes widen in shock, and Keith asks what's wrong worriedly. Lance looks at him with huge eyes, and then murmurs,

“Holy _crap_ , Mullet Boy. You can actually _draw!_ I was expecting a crappy stick figure!” Keith stares for a second before getting royally pissed off, and Lance collapses into hysterics, laughing so hard he falls over. “Ohh, man, I _totally_ got you!” Then, a few seconds into Keith yelling at him in embarrassment and anger, Lance's demeanour does yet another full 180°. He frowns at the drawing, humming as he nods to himself and mouths stuff under his breath. He looks up at Keith and hands back the journal. “You said it was on someone's back?” Keith nods. Lance suddenly looks sick, going pale and staring at Keith with wide eyes. “We need to find whoever it was on. Now. Or _really_ soon at the latest. That thing - a daemon to be specific - is the physical embodiment of negative emotions. It appears when things get _really_ bad. Like, imminent death kind of bad. Judging by your sketch, that particular one is Self-Doubt, but there are many different kinds. That person's _life_ is in danger. We gotta kill the daemon.” Keith blinks, taken aback.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what?! A demon?!” Lance shakes his head.

“No. A _daemon._ There's a difference. It's usually not my job to kill those things, but if it's _that_ _bad_ , it has to go.” Keith nods.

“I…okay. Sure. I'll go for a walk and find him. I did a group project with him once so I know where his house is.” He stands, and Lance follows suit. He is adamant that he's coming, and eventually Keith relents. It's not like Lance can _do_ anything in his current state.

Ten minutes into the walk, and Keith is regretting bringing Lance. The idiot _will not shut up_ . He rambles on about the _stupidest_ stuff, and Keith is once again reminded of a puppy. An annoying one who won't. Stop. Yapping.

Keith manages to tune Lance out, and eventually they make it to their destination. Keith knocks on the door and waits. It takes a few minutes, and Keith wants to leave but Lance pulls him back, but the door is finally opened. And Keith has to bite his tongue _hard_ to keep from yelling at the state of the person who opens the door. The boy, Tanner Keith thinks his name is, has deep bags under his eyes, and his skin is pale. The creature from before has gotten larger and is clinging to his back, spindly black limbs wrapped around his waist and shoulders, a clawed hand resting on his throat. As Keith stares, unable to tear his eyes away and say anything, the monster turns its gaping maw towards Tanner’s ear and hisses in a gargling voice,

_“He thinks you're disgusting. Look. He won't even talk to you. Won't even look at you.”_ Lance clears his throat, and that breaks the spell. Keith's eyes snap up to Tanner’s sunken eyes and he starts talking, just trying to find anything to diminish the threat of the daemon.

“Hey, Tanner. I was, uh…just wondering if you were okay. You seemed a little off in class earlier today. Anything you need to talk about?” Keith is sweating. If Tanner wasn't totally drained from the daemon’s presence, this would be _so_ much more awkward. And it's terrible as is. Tanner’s eyes widen at his words.

“You…noticed?” Keith can almost hear the unspoken words attached to that question. _You care?_ The daemon hisses in anger, and retaliates with,

_“Only because you were being so_ _weird_ _. You're an idiot. He doesn't care.”_ Keith resists the urge to flip off the daemon. That would just look like he was flipping off Tanner. As Keith keeps awkwardly yammering to Tanner, Lance sneaks around behind him, and without any sort of warning, leaps towards him and grabs the daemon. Yanking the thing off of Tanner, Lance rolls around on the floor with it, both beings trying to pin the other. Tanner blinks, eyes wide, seeming royally confused for a moment, before he yawns, rubs his eyes, and collapses. Keith kneels down to check if he's okay, and then looks up to see how Lance is doing. The daemon has Lance pinned, and Lance is exerting a ton of effort to keep its claws away from his throat, flapping his wings futilely to try get some leverage off of the floor. Keith starts towards him, and Lance yells at him to stop.

“It'll attach itself to you instead! Just close the door and get the dude somewhere he can rest!” The daemon is distracted by Keith, and Lance takes that moment to roll over, pin its scrawny chest under his knees, and kill it with a dagger he pulls from _god_ knows where. Keith drags Tanner to the couch, leaves him there, and joins Lance back outside.

“So…what is Tanner going to think of me when we go back to school tomorrow…?” he asks. Lance grins at him.

“He'll probably forget everything that happened. That, or he'll remember and think of you as an absolute weirdo.” Keith rolls his eyes.

“Oh, _so_ comforting. Thanks.” he says sarcastically. Lance cackles. Then, he pats Keith's shoulder.

“You did good. You saved that kid’s life.” Surprisingly, Lance is quiet the rest of the walk home. Keith has the feeling he shouldn't disturb him from his thoughts.


	2. Dancing With Daemons

The next day, Lance is adamant that he is going to school with Keith.

“Not only is it _boring as all hell_ to do nothing but sit around all day in an empty house, but I have stuff to do! I gotta check up on Hunk and Shay, the cuties, look around for Pidge, and daemons too. Cuz if there's one, it means there are gonna be more soon. They breed like _rabbits_ , ya know _._ Feeding off of each other’s auras and stuff.” Keith lets him after ten full minutes of arguing, and only because Shiro remind him that he'll be late for school if he doesn't leave _now_ . So, Keith walks to school with a bouncy Cupid trailing him like his personal fucking puppy. Keith can't help but comment internally: _I don't even_ _like_ _dogs._

.oOo.

    Keith is an idiot. This is what Lance decides through the course of the day. He said he only saw _one_ daemon, which is _impossible,_ because there are so damn _many_ . Lance has _zero_ time to check on Hunk and Shay, being busy taking down daemon after daemon. _This would be_ _so_ _much easier if I had my bow._ As it is, even though Lance has been using all his spare time alone to look for his bow in Keith's house, Lance hasn't found it. _He had better not have wrecked that, too!_ Lance thinks angrily, seething at the injustice of it all. He doesn't have much time to complain though, as he spies yet another daemon on another student, and gets to work prying it off and killing it.

.oOo.

    After school, Keith can't find Lance anywhere. He experiences quite a long moment of panic, hoping that the Cupid is okay, before he remembers that Lance is annoying and he should _want_ him to leave him alone. Then, Lance appears and worry fills Keith’s gut again.

“Holy crap, you look terrible! What happened to you?!” he asks as Lance walks up. The Cupid has many cuts and bruises everywhere Keith can see (and probably elsewhere too), including a nice set of claw marks across his chest and a goose egg on his head, as well as some bite marks made by inhuman fangs. The bruises are dark against his skin, and the area around each and every claw mark or bite is turning a sickly shade of greenish purple. Lance gives Keith an unimpressed look.

“I look bad because I fought daemons all day. What’s _your_ excuse?” Keith raises his eyebrows at the sass. He had been expecting some bad joke, but he’ll have to settle for a sarcastic jab. That’s well within Lance’s usual behaviour anyways. They argue over anything and everything, and Keith really can’t tell if it’s joking or not. Keith stares for a moment at the ugly stain spreading slowly across Lance’s skin from the cuts and bites.

“Those look really bad. We should get you home and clean them or something.” Lance deflates from the tense, argumentative stance he had taken.

“Yeah. Daemons have nasty claws and teeth. They’re definitely infected with whatever shit’s on there.” Keith has a feeling they’re more than infected, judging by how fast the discolored splotches are spreading - fast enough that he can watch them grow.

    True to Keith’s suspicions, by the time they’ve gotten home, the spots have increased in size drastically, and Lance is sagging against Keith, looking pale.

“Okay, _you_ are not hunting down daemons anymore. You’re gonna get killed.” Keith comments as he leads Lance to the bathroom. He’s really hoping he can clean those properly. Lance rolls his eyes.

“I’m totally getting kicked out of the Garrison by now, so does it even matter how I die? I’d rather it be this than the Galra.” Keith feels somewhat reassured by Lance’s attitude, although he’s disturbed by the blasé way Lance says that. At least he’s not so weak he’s not being sassy anymore. _That_ would _really_ worry Keith. Lance watches Keith putter around with an unreadable expression. Soon, Keith has gotten out quite the array of basic first aid supplies. He goes over them, pointing at each in turn. Polysporin, Band-Aids, cotton balls, rubbing alcohol...Keith _thinks_ that’s all he needs to get rid of the poison or whatever is in those cuts. He gets to work patching Lance up, rolling his eyes when starts complaining at the sting of the rubbing alcohol.

“It’s getting rid of germs. Or something.” _I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s for? I hope I’m doing this right._ Eventually, Keith finishes, and Lance looks slightly better than before now that the worst of the cuts and things are covered with Band-Aids and Polysporin. Lance thanks him quietly ( _It’s a miracle,_ Keith thinks), and then walks stiffly up to Keith’s room, which is apparently his favorite place to be in the house. A while later, after putting away all the medical supplies and eating a snack, Keith goes upstairs to find Lance staring out the window with a far-off, blank look in his eyes. Keith leaves him be, and a little while later Lance joins him and Shiro downstairs with his usual annoyingly chipper attitude, acting like nothing happened at all. For some reason, it pisses Keith off that Lance doesn’t tell him why he was so spaced out before. The two barely talk to each other for the rest of the evening, Keith ignoring Lance and Lance preoccupying himself with bothering Shiro.

.oOo.

    Keith drifts slowly into consciousness, wondering what time it is. It's dark, with a sliver of moonlight cutting a line of silver across his room, so it can't be time to get up. Sitting up, Keith glances at the clock. 5:23 in the morning. Well, it's too late to go back to sleep now. He'd sleep through his alarm. A soft fluttering sound off to his side sets his heart pounding despite Keith not actually being scared by the sound. Looking over, Keith's eyes settle on Lance's back where he's standing by the window. Lance's wings twitch again. The curtains are open quite a bit, thus the moonlight streaming in. Keith blinks and opens his mouth, but decides against talking. It seems to him that it would be rude to shatter the perfect silence that only happens in the darkest hours of the night. Getting up and being careful not to make too much noise, Keith pads over to join Lance at the window, curious as to what the Cupid could be staring at. There's nothing out there but silver-bathed houses and lawns, and Keith glances at Lance's eyes to try follow their path. Lance's eyes are wide, his pupils huge and dark and speckled with light from the moon and stars. _That's what he's looking at,_ Keith realizes. _He's staring at the sky._ Keith gathers some courage and speaks quietly, and Lance doesn't jump even though he'd given no sign of knowing that Keith was there.

“What’re you looking at?” Lance keeps his gaze locked on the night sky, and his lips barely move as he responds.

“The stars. They're pretty, I like watching them whenever I have nothing to do.” His wings flutter softly once more, and Keith can tell that this time, they spread a little wider. Lance keeps talking in that same soft voice, and Keith wonders if he even realizes he's talking. In this silence, with the pale light painting everything in silver and shades of grey, the entire world feels like it's holding its breath in wait for the morning. “I used to think stars were the souls of dead people, up in Heaven and shining down on us.” He pauses, and folds his wings tight to his back, apparently just noticing that they've opened up. “But that's not true. They last too long. Stars are always there. Souls disappear too fast to be stars.” Keith frowns, wondering at the dark tone to Lance's words. For a being whose existence is all about love, this is a pretty dark take on _stars_ of all things.

“I…why do you say that? I thought you'd be all romantic and stuff since…” Keith trails off as Lance looks at him, eyes wet.

“Because I've _watched_ souls disappear. And they go too fast to stop, too fast to stay around. If they were slow enough to be stars, _mi hermana wouldn't have_ _died._ ” Lance's wings open fully, feathers fluffing up like he's ready to try fly even without so many of his feathers. “I wish I was an angel. Not a Cupid. Maybe if I was an angel I could bring her back.” Keith has no idea what to do when silent tears start rolling down Lance's face in streaks of silver, so he awkwardly pats Lance's shoulder. As Lance turns and buries his face in Keith's shoulder, shaking with noiseless sobs and hugging Keith like a lifeline, Keith wonders what he meant by all that. _Someone died, I get that. But_ _who_ _? What the heck does ‘mi hermana’ mean? And who were they to Lance?_

.oOo.

    Lance stares at Keith with red-rimmed, puffy eyes. He sniffles quietly and wonders when they changed positions from standing by the window to sitting on Keith's bed. He really can't remember. He was just too lost in his memories. But now, Keith is asleep against him, snoring quietly, and Lance can't bring himself to let the boy fall onto the bed. He cradles Keith and marvels at how _pretty_ he looks in the soft moonlight. Whoever he gets for a final partner will be lucky. Lance just hope Keith lets himself love after this Carson thing blows over. Lance purses his lips, debating what he's going to do. He sighs quietly and slowly lets Keith fall to the bed, resting his head on the pillow. Lance pulls some blanket over him carefully (and sloppily), before brushing some hair from his eyes and getting up.

 _“Duerma bien._ ”

.oOo.

    Keith yawns and sits up, frowning at how chilly he is. His blanket has fallen off somehow. It's only when Keith wakes up a little more and shuts off his blaring alarm that he realizes he was on _top_ of the covers.

“What…?” _Oh._ Keith looks around for any sign of Lance and finds nothing save his open curtains and a couple fluffy, white feathers lying around. Keith goes about the rest of his morning in a distracted daze, thinking about last night. He's so busy being lost in his own mind that he doesn't realize until halfway through first period that Lance wasn't anywhere in his house.

.oOo.

    Lance bites his thumb nervously, second-guessing himself yet again. _I'm being stupid. What would Pidge say?_ Pidge would hit him. And then chew him out. But Pidge isn't here right now, and Lance has to do this before he loses his courage. So, silently wishing for forgiveness from Keith, he unslings his bow from his shoulders, nocks an arrow to the string, and fires. Then he does it again. Feeling sick, Lance spins around and leaves Keith's school. He'll wait until this thing with Carson blows over. And then he'll find Keith a better boyfriend.

.oOo.

    _It's only been a day! How could this be_ _this_ _fucked up?! The Garrison is even more clueless than I thought!_ Lance is panicking on the inside, but on the outside he's got on this stupid apologetic smile that he _knows_ won't fix anything. It'll make it worse, because Keith is _pissed_ and no amount of talking or smiling is going to calm him down. _Looks like the arrows’ effects have been burned off completely. What a sorry excuse for a relationship I've created._ Lance doesn't fight back when Keith hits him. He doesn't say a word in his own defense when Keith yells. He just apologizes, again and again, and lets Keith get his anger out. Lance knew this was how it was going to end. Why didn't he just follow his gut? He was never getting back into the Garrison anyways. Keith yells at him to leave. Lance nods, smile disappearing.

“Alright. I'll go. Please, Keith…” He stops himself. There's no point in asking for Keith's forgiveness. Not now. Not ever. Lance grabs his bow and quiver and leaves,trying to ignore the queasiness in his gut.

.oOo.

    Keith sobs, face in his hands, cursing Lance and Cupids and the Garrison and _god damn fucking Carson!_ The homophobic bastard! _Why_ did Lance do that?! How could he?! It's betrayal, what he's feeling,mixed with anger and hatred and grief. He doesn't even want to think about what he'd done. What a fool he'd been, approaching Carson like that and acting _just_ like he'd been disgusted at Shiro and Hunk for. Those Cupid arrows had only worked on Keith. And now he's got humiliation where his love used to be, that fake fucking ‘love’ Cupids shot from bows at the orders of _things_ who don't know what love _is_. As Keith calms down slowly, getting over the rush of emotions that had blinded him for a while, he notices the blood on his hands. It's blood, he's sure of that. But it's gold in color, dripping from his knuckles in molten droplets onto the few feathers scattered in front of him. Keith knows he should feel terrible. But he just can't feel that way right now. Who knows if he ever will. For now, Keith is going to stay home from school and get over the lovesickness seeping from the shattered pieces of his heart.

.oOo.

    Lance wipes more blood from his nose and lips, wiping the golden ichor on his toga. Who cares if it gets dirty. It's already pretty damn bad, what with Keith _and_ those daemons from before all beating him up. Lance knows for a fact that he looks like a sad, sad little excuse for a Cupid, sitting on a playground swing covered in blood and tears, mourning over…what exactly? Lost friendship? Did he ever even _have_ a friendship with Keith? He's pretty sure Keith was just _putting up with him_ until Lance could fly again. Even if he'd _seemed_ nice that one night when Lance had been an idiot and said too much. Lance kicks at the gravel beneath him and stretches his aching wings. Regrowing feathers always feels like bad growing pains. Like when Lance had had his growth spurt…back when he was still _alive_ . He'd moaned and groaned so much his mother had given him Advil and told him to go away until he was done whining. Lance chuckles at the memory. Well, he'd known what to do when his little sister had gotten those pains as well. _My little sister…I'm sorry, Maria. I'm so sorry I wasn't there._ Lance looks up at the stars beginning to shine above him in the dusk. _I'm getting quite the streak, aren't I? Not here for Maria. Not here for Pidge. Not here for Keith. What a sorry excuse for a Cupid._ Lance is so wrapped up in his thoughts once again that he doesn't notice that the queasiness in his stomach has gotten way worse - until a clawed hand latches onto his wing and drags him off the swing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have discovered how to format the text of the chapter! Now, they should all be much easier to follow! Sorry if it was a little confusing before. I haven't got AO3 quite figured out yet...  
> Thank you so much to everyone who sent me Kudos and reviewed! I'll be continuing to update this story here as well as on fanfiction.net just cuz I got such an amazing response here on AO3! :D  
> I'm sorry if the Spanish sucks. I'm literally using Google Translate, so blame that thing, not me! :')


	3. Love Lost

Shiro is the one who snaps Keith out of his funk, sternly but kindly talking him out of it, and comforting him as Keith gets everything out of his system via more crying. Then, once Keith has calmed down and cleaned up the mess on the floor, Shiro gives him a concerned look and asks a question that sets Keith into a panic. 

“Where's Lance?” Keith jumps to his feet, swearing and ignoring Shiro’s disapproving frown. 

“Oh, crap! I gotta find him. He's - he's hurt, and I gotta apologize!” Keith blurts another expletive as he dashes out the door, grabbing his jacket and hoping he can find Lance soon. He can hear Shiro following him, running just behind Keith. They search for maybe ten minutes before Shiro grabs Keith's arm suddenly and drags him around the corner of a house. He claps a hand over Keith's mouth and hisses, 

“He's over there. Look,  _ carefully. _ ” Keith leans around the side of the building and grimaces as he sees why Shiro hid. Lance is there alright, fighting against a few daemons. Keith and Shiro would be useless in that fight. They would just get in the way. Keith watches as Lance grimaces, killing one of the daemons. In the brief respite from the daemons, Lance fires at something that Keith can't see. The arrow hits something, and Keith frowns. Making a conscious effort, he relaxes his eyes and lets them unfocus. And that's when he sees the Galra. It has purple skin and baleful yellow eyes, and Kaith watches as it rips the arrow from its shoulder and commands the final daemon to attack again. 

“Go for its wings.” And while Lance is preoccupied keeping the small, wiry creature off of his wings, the Galra starts walking towards him. Keith tries to get up and help him, but Shuro drags him back down. 

“You won't be any help. All we can do is hope another Cupid shows up.” He keeps a tight grip on Keith's arm as Keith protests, trying to get up and help somehow. Keith almost yells as he is forced to watch the Galra grab Lance by the arm, claws digging into him, and throw him to the ground. Lance curls up, bow and quiver clasped against his chest as he protects them from his enemies. His wings are folded tight against his back, and Keith gasps as Lance's eyes land on him, steely determination hardening the ocean blue. Lance suddenly bursts to his feet, only making it a few steps before he's caught again. But he grins as he's caught, wings flapping open to obscure the Galra’s vision as he throws his bow and quiver to Keith. Then, he holds his arms to his chest like he's protecting the weapon again and folds his wings back. The Galra says something in a strange dialect, and a glowing portal-looking thing appears next to him. It's purple, and for some reason the portal makes Keith feel sick when he looks at it. Clutching Lance's bow and quiver to himself, Keith watches in mute horror as Lance is dragged through the portal, the Galra’s arm tight around his midsection, the daemon’s claws locked on his wings. 

.oOo.

_This can't be right. That couldn't have happened. Lance's bow is_ _right_ _here_ _, so surely Lance will be here soon?_ Keith can't quite wrap his mind around what just happened. Lance has been around constantly for a week now, and Keith's gotten used to having the wiseass Cupid around. He stares at the bow, not really seeing it. Rather, he's picturing Lance's face as it was just before he'd disappeared through that portal. Smeared with golden blood, both fresh and dry, and bruised where Keith had hit him. Claw marks from the daemon across his cheek that Keith doubts will be treated properly. 

“Shiro…Lance could - he could  _ die. _ ” Keith says hollowly, looking up at Shiro. The man winces, grimacing and tugging at his tuft of white hair he calls bangs. He says nothing, and Keith looks back at the bow in his hands. It's gilded, and silver, covered with intricate little leaves and vines and flowers. He's just about to put it down and stop looking at it and the quiver when a flapping of wings signals the arrival of a Cupid. Keith whirls around hopefully, wishing beyond reason that it will be Lance standing there. He pales when he sees Pidge, staring at the bow in his hands. 

“Why do you have that?” they ask quietly, visibly tense. Keith stutters and trips over his answer, trying to get words past lips that won't move properly. Shiro ends up putting a calming hand on Keith's shoulder and vaguely explaining what happened. Pidge’s face goes pale, and then paler, freckles standing out starkly, and then red with rage.  _ “What?!  _ You  _ moron!”  _ they shriek, wings stretched out and fluffed up, trembling with anger. Keith stares at the floor, a guilty sort of glare fixed on the kitchen tile. Pidge goes silent, and Keith doesn’t resist much when they snatch the bow and quiver from his hands. They stand in front of him for a while, wipe their eyes angrily, and then shove the weapon back at him. “Take it. Use it. I’ll finish my work here tomorrow and then we’re getting Lance back.” Shiro frowns at the same time that Keith nods resolutely, interrupting Keith’s next words with a concerned tone.

“Wait.  _ We?  _ Are you bringing Keith into this?” Pidge gives Shiro a steely, determined look, eyes flashing dangerously as they step forwards to confront him. They adjust their glasses and speak, jabbing Shiro in the chest with an accusatory finger as emphasis while they do.

“Yes, we are.  _ He  _ got Lance into this, and  _ I  _ can’t get him all by myself.” Shiro turns to Keith, brows creased, and is met with a second steely gaze, the boy holding the bow in a death grip with his lips set in a grim line. Shiro has seen that look before. That means that whatever Keith has decided. He’s not backing down. Shiro just sighs, rubs his temples, and then gives the both of them his sternest glare and states, 

“No. Pidge will go  _ alone _ , or Lance is going to have to get himself out.” Keith relents after a full minute of having a staring contest, grumbling bitterly under his breath and stalking up to his room. Shiro collapses onto the couch, ignoring Pidge’s glare boring holes in the back of his neck, and turns on the TV to tune out their quiet sniffling.

.oOo.

“Ready to go?” Pidge says softly, watching Keith strap the last of his weapons onto himself. For living in a small apartment and still being in school, Keith has a  _ lot _ of blades. A freaking  _ katana _ , a couple daggers, and a pocketknife have all made their way onto Keith’s person, as well as a bow and quiver. Keith doesn’t plan on using those.

“Shh!” Keith hisses back even more quietly. “Shiro is  _ the _ lightest sleeper _ ever _ . But yes, I’m ready.” He takes one last glance around the room, making sure the letter he’s leaving for Shiro is still on his bed in plain sight, and then follows Pidge almost silently out of the house. 

.oOo.

Lance groans softly, wincing at the sharp aching all over his body. He’s got wounds from daemons, which are steadily getting worse, the bruises from Keith’s burst of anger, as well as some extra cuts and bruises from his rough treatment on the way here. And he has no doubt that Haggar and Zarkon - the leaders of the Galra - will be by soon to give him more injuries. They’re majorly pissed off that they don’t have his bow or quiver, and instead of turning him into a Galra like they do with most Cupids they capture, Lance is sure that they’re going to kill him, as slowly and painfully as possible. Lance sits up with a pained grunt and prods at his worst wound, a deep, ugly-looking bite on his thigh from a daemon. It’s spectacularly bruised already, a diseased-looking deep purple bruise fading to a gross greenish yellow around the edges. With the whatever-it-is in daemon saliva that makes wounds worsen at an aggressive rate, there are already thin, red lines streaking out from the bite. Infection in the bloodstream. Lance does nothing to try slow the progression of the infection, instead laying back down and hoping that the various wounds all over him kill him before Haggar and Zarkon get the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! I finally got around to finishing this! I'm sorry for waiting so long! I've been busy writing Sinking in Your Deep Blue Sea, plus I had writer's block for this chapter for the longest time! Now, said writer's block has switched to Sinking in Your Deep Blue Sea, so I might be able to write this one some more. Or not. We'll see how busy school gets me. (Probably very. I have too many core subjects.)   
> Feel free to make corrections for me! I write my stories on my phone, so there may be lots of mistakes. Big clumsy thumbs on an itty bitty screen. :')


	4. Risky Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Pidge find Lance...just not in the best condition.

Keith has never flown before. Not in a plane, or in any other fashion. So when Pidge grabs him by the armpits and unceremoniously hefts him into the air with them, he shrieks. Not only is Pidge labouring to stay in the air with the added weight, giving Keith a  _ very  _ unsafe feeling, but Keith discovers that he’s afraid of heights. At least, he is when he’s being held strenuously by a small Cupid, bobbing up and down sickeningly and on his way to the most dangerous fight he’s ever been in. 

“How the hell are you even  _ carrying  _ me?! How do you guys  _ fly _ ?! Your wings are tiny!” Keith calls to Pidge, his voice cracking embarrassingly halfway through. Pidge scoffs breathlessly, unable to respond for a few wingbeats. 

“...Magic…dumbass!” they hiss between gasps, adjusting their grip and making Keith yelp a little in fright. Pidge laughs breathlessly, and then grits their teeth as their expression hardens into steely resolve and they flap their wings even harder than before. They're climbing higher now, the early morning air growing even more cold than it already was. Keith wonders how much time has passed. 

_ I bet it's already almost seven.  _ The thought of Shiro entering Keith's room to wake him up only to find nothing sets Keith's stomach churning.  _ Sorry, Shiro.  _ But what has happened is Keith's fault, and he’s damn well going to bring Lance back with him. Pidge grunts a  _ very  _ brief, 

“Get ready,” before Keith is plummeting towards the ground with Pidge’s hand clapped over his mouth to muffle his terrified shrieking. Pidge yells something in a foreign language, and throws a small vial in front of them. It shatters, and what Keith thinks might be a wormhole appears in its stead. The two fall through the swirling blue portal, and once they emerge from the other side, Pidge spreads their wings open wide and starts slowing their descent. 

“If I…take my hand away…are you gonna…scream?” they gasp breathlessly, and Keith shakes his head no. “Good.” They shift their hand away to get a better grip on Keith again, and after a whole lot more flapping of their wings, the two land on solid ground. Keith kind of feels like kissing it. 

“What the hell was that?!” he yelps as soon as he's caught his breath and slowed his heart rate. Pidge raises an eyebrow, also trying to figure out how to breathe properly again. 

“What part?” they ask shortly. Keith sputters, gesturing vaguely at the sky.

“The blue thing!” Pidge chuckles, seeming smug. 

“A wormhole. They use…a lot of magic. I'm spent.” They're panting less now, but it's still interfering with their speech. ‘Okay. Once I…stretch my wings and…rest a little, we're gonna sneak…into that base. It's Galra.” Keith looks up and notices the huge building he hadn't before. He  _ also  _ notices the fact that there are two moons as well as a sun in the sky. 

Perturbed, Keith keeps staring at the moons and asks, “Pidge. Where are we?” Pidge is breathing normally again, and they make sure their bow is secure on their back before explaining. 

“It's called Altea. This is the dimension Cupids and Galra come from. Us Cupids, along with taking care of you humans and your love lives, are constantly fighting against the Galra to keep control of the land we have. Galra are Cupids who’ve been changed by dark magic, or Quintessence. And all they want to do is eradicate Cupids and take control of Altea.” Pidge grins recklessly at Keith, gesturing towards the intimidating Galra base and getting up. “Whaddya say? Time for some stealth?” Keith nods, eyes going steely with determination, and together they head out to infiltrate possibly the most dangerous place they could ever enter. 

.oOo.

Lance shudders and coughs weakly, wracked with pain and infection. The toxic tendrils from his daemon wounds are spiderwebbing all over his body at this point, and the effects are clear to anyone who looks at him. He has a soaring fever, accompanied by nasty, pus-filled remnants of the wounds, and fatigue from the relentless interrogation Haggar continues to force upon him. The metal floor of his cell feels fantastic on his burning skin, although it makes no sense to his delirious mind - to him, the shivering is because he's  _ freezing.  _ Coughing again, harder this time, Lance groans listlessly at the pain simple movement incurs. Thoughts drift languidly through his fever-addled brain, the most common one being detached ramblings about how stupid the higher-ups at the Garrison are and how everything's screwed up now.  _ I hope Pidge gets Keith a better boyfriend than...Carson? Kyle? I wonder how Keith is doing. I bet Pidge is furious with me. Screw Iverson.  _ His thoughts trail off into unintelligible murmuring again, indecipherable even to him. And Lance drifts off into yet another restless faint. 

.oOo.

Pidge curses a blue streak that could make a sailor blush as they grasp for arrows only to find that their supply is exhausted. 

_ “Fuck  _ Galra and their great fucking senses of smell!” they lament again, royally pissed off that they and Keith were found out far too soon by nothing other than the lingering scent of  _ perfume  _ from Pidge’s last mission. Keith dives in to save them from an attack in the nick of time, deflecting a laser gun shot off of one of his blades. It warps a little but stays in one piece, and only snaps when it finds its target in a Galra’s throat. 

“We’d better fucking find him soon!” Keith hisses as he unsheathes another blade. He may be good at fighting, but he only has so much stamina - and apparently, this base has unlimited Galra to throw at them. That's when Pidge finally deciphers the map they hacked out of the base and starts dragging him away. 

“Prisoner cells are this way! Just  _ run -  _ we've wasted too much time already!” Pidge is  _ fast _ , flapping their wings to give themselves little boosts in speed, and practically carrying Keith with how much their speed is forcing him to sprint on his toes so he doesn't fall on his face. They arrive at the door to the prisoners’ quarters, and Pidge hacks it open in seconds, fingers flying at a pace Keith can barely follow. They skid to a stop once inside, jarred to a stop by the scene just a few doors down from them. A Galra guard is holding Lance upright, the near-catatonic Cupid managing to look both listless and confused at once. He mutters something unintelligible as his eyes wander upwards to land on Pidge and Keith. 

“Holy  _ shit,  _ they didn't treat him at  _ all!”  _ Pidge gasps, outraged. He hasn't been healing either, by the look of it. Whatever is in daemon saliva must be potent, and Keith feels sick thinking about what Lance must be feeling at this point. The guard laughs cruelly and lifts Lance a little higher by one wing, earning a pained groan from the battered teen. He holds up something large and metal, and Pidge almost  _ screams. “No!  _ You  _ can't!”  _ Keith's heart is loud in his ears, beating a frantic tattoo against his ribs as he stares at the huge set of shears in the Galra’s hand. They snap shut, and the terrible noise they make is burned into Keith's memory,along with the smug grin the Galra still has on his face. Then, the sound of Lance's blood-curdling shriek snaps Keith from his stupor, the sight of golden blood and pristine white feathers littering the hallway breaking something in Keith's heart. And all of a sudden, all Keith can see is red. 

It's the last thing he remembers seeing before absolutely nothing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops - Langst warning! A little late though, you've already read the chapter... X)
> 
> I shall restate here that if you follow any of mys stories...you must be prepared for long, unexplained hiatuses and then spams of chapters I've written while I was away and too lazy to post them. (: Thanks so much for sticking with me! None of my stories are finished until I say so. ;)


	5. Misunderstanding Mishap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna get worse before it gets any better...this is just the calm before the storm.

Keith wakes up disoriented, head sore and eyelids heavy with grogginess. As he wakes up further he realizes that he's in his own room, at home. Sitting up abruptly and causing the room to tilt a little as black spots swarm his vision, Keith frowns at his surroundings. 

“When…?” He trails off, utterly confused. Shiro answers him from where he's leaning against the doorframe with a  _ very  _ disappointed expression. 

“You apparently passed out after taking on a Galra guard. Pidge dragged both you and Lance home through a wormhole.” Keith stares at Shiro, realization of how much shit he's in dawning on him slowly. 

“I - Shiro, I'm sorry - ” That sets Shiro off, the usually calm man waving his hands expressively as he scolds Keith. 

“Do you know what it looked like?! I came in here to wake you up and you were  _ gone!  _ And then, hours later, Pidge shows up dragging your bloody, unconscious ass! I thought you were  _ dead,  _ Keith!” Keith can't meet Shiro’s eyes, instead stubbornly keeping a neutral expression (that isn't nearly as neutral as he thinks it is) and fixing his gaze on his blankets. His eyes are wet nonetheless, as are Shiro’s, and he feels rather than sees Shiro sit down next to him, the dip in the bed giving it away. “I'm glad you're alright,” Shiro says quietly, and pats Keith's shoulder before getting up again in the somewhat awkward silence. “Lance is on the couch in the living room.” He leaves after that, leaving Keith to gather his thoughts and rush out to see Lance. 

When he enters the living room, Pidge is leaning against the couch near Lance midriff, one hand up on the cushion holding his hand as they snore softly, head tilted at what must be an uncomfortable position. The position makes Pidge look even smaller than they are. Lance is still out cold, his wounds dressed and his wings splayed out on either side of him. Keith corrects himself.  _ Wing. Singular _ . The thought makes him feel sick, and he looks away. His eyes land on an unfamiliar man, and he tenses up before the man laughs and introduces himself. 

“Greetings, young man. I assume you're Keith? My name is Coran. I've been taking care of Lance. I'm quite good at first aid, you see!” He's very chipper, and he's got a thick accent that Keith can't quite place. It sounds kind of British. Keith's eyes wander from the man’s bright orange hair and flamboyant moustache, to the pair of large white wings on his back. 

“Oh. You're a Cupid.” Coran nods, chest puffing up proudly. 

“Oh, yes! I'm mostly in charge of first aid back in Altea, which is why I'm here to help now, but I'm also rather good at technology, and crafting those handy little wormholes!” Keith glances at Lance, who looks relaxed but pale, and back to Coran. 

“Will…will his wing be okay? Will  _ he?”  _ Coran frowns. 

“Well thanks to advanced Altean medical knowledge, Lance will be just fine! He's looking better already isn't he? But his wing isn't going to grow back if that's what you're asking. He'll be kept on the task force - we're rather short on good Cupids - but he'll be using wormholes to travel from now on.” Keith nods, mouth set in a thin line. Coran gives him a knowing look, walking closer to pat him on the shoulder heavily. “Don't blame yourself, my boy. Lance wouldn't hold a grudge, trust me. Now, I've got to go. Other duties to attend to! Keep an eye on him for me, will you?” Giving Keith an encouraging smile, Coran leaves through the front door (nodding to Shiro as he goes) and takes off with a now-familiar  **_whumpf_ ** sound. 

It's three hours before Lance stirs, on top of the day and a half he'd apparently already been out. Keith's stomach had been getting increasingly active through those three hours, gurgling and flopping with nerves as he wonders what's going to happen when Lance wakes up with only one wing. Will he forgive Keith? Will he even want to  _ look  _ at him? Pidge wakes up an hour in, giving Keith a grateful, relieved look before leaving to complete a mission before Lance wakes up. Shiro makes tea and delivers Keith a cup. It sits where he put it until it's cold and no longer appetizing. Finally, Lance wakes up. He stirs, groaning as his eyelids flutter open. He sits up gingerly, obviously sore all over, and inspects his various wounds. It takes what feels like an eternity, but he eventually looks up and notices Keith slouched in a corner across the living room. 

“Keith! How are you doing?” He looks hopeful, and apologetic, and relieved all in one look. Keith frowns. 

“You…you've been out for almost  _ two days,  _ you almost  _ died,  _ and you're asking  _ me  _ if  _ I'm  _ okay?!” he asks incredulously. Lance chuckles nervously. 

“Well, after the thing with the bad match and all…I just…I wanna make sure you're doing alright. Are you…are you still mad at me?” Keith laughs, rushing over to hug Lance gingerly around the middle. 

“No, no I'm not! I'm just glad you're alive.” He draws back and unwraps his arms from Lance's waist. Suddenly all his nervousness comes flooding back, and Keith looks away. “How’s your wing…?” he asks quietly. Lance frowns in confusion before twisting his head to look at each wing. His eyes widen when he sees what's left of the left one. 

“Oh my god…oh my _ god…what the  _ _ fuck _ _?!”  _ he yells, voice breaking as his shaking fingers fumble at the stump. “What - what the hell am I gonna do  _ now?!” _ Pidge is suddenly there, the front door slamming as Pidge uses their wings to boost themselves. They shove Keith aside and hug Lance, being careful of his wings and wounds as they murmur soothing words. Keith backs away, guilty and embarrassed, and retreats to his room.  _ I fucked up. I fucked up  _ _ again _ _.  _

.oOo.

Someone knocks on Keith's bedroom door an hour later. He opens it slowly, apprehensive to speak to whomever it is. 

He almost slams it shut again when he sees who’s on the other side. But as Keith moves to swing the door closed, Lance’s arm snaps up and holds it open easily against Keith's half-hearted dismissal. 

“Keith. I just want to talk.” Keith stays where he is for a moment, eyes fixed on the carpet with his fingers loosely splayed against the wood grain. There is silence for a bit after Keith makes eye contact with the Cupid, and then he pulls the door open and steps aside to let Lance in. Lance offers him a small smile. It looks miserable to Keith, and he hates himself a little more for it. 

“What did you want to talk about?” Keith's voice sounds flat, even to himself. He cringes inwardly at the concerned look Lance gives him. Sitting down on the bed, Lance pulls Keith with him and shifts to face him once they're both seated. He takes Keith's face in his hands carefully, forces him to look him in the eyes. 

“I don't blame you, Keith. Not at all. I just want you to know that.” His voice is soft. Those piercing blue eyes search Keith's gaze, and Keith looks away guiltily. “Hey. Look at me.” Lance's voice is soft, pleading, and Keith looks at him again with a reproachful gaze. He just wants Lance to go away, to stop reminding him of how badly he fucked up. “Keith, you believe me, don't you? I don't blame you, and I don't want you to beat yourself up over it.” He lets go of Keith's face, hands falling into his lap. Pidge has brought him new clothing, and the pure white fabric seems discordant, juxtaposed against all the little wounds littering Lance's skin. 

“Why.” Keith's voice cracks, and he winces at how terrible it sounded. “Why did you pair me with  _ Carson?”  _ He spits the name out with disgust, bitter and angry. “And why do you forgive me? I'm the reason your wings got wrecked, and then why you got caught...why your wing…” He trails off, voice choked. Lance frowns at him. 

“You are  _ not  _ the reason I got caught. I got caught because I wasn't paying attention. As for the beginning…that wasn't too bad, points for Cupid capture creativity and putting up with me. I don't blame you for not wanting people meddling with your roomie. As for… _ this, _ ” He gestures to the gauze-swathed stub on his back.“There's no way you could’ve saved my wing. It hurts for now, but I'll get used to it. I can still do my job, I'll be fine. And about Carson…I'm sorry. It was the assignment given to me, and I just wanted to keep my job. I  _ knew  _ it wouldn't work. I was hoping it would just blow over.” He laughs bitterly. “Obviously, it didn't. I'm sorry.” This time, it's  _ Keith _ who grabs  _ Lance's _ face. The Cupid looks up, guilt and hope mingling in his eyes. Keith offers him what he hopes is a nice smile. (It's not. It's more of an awkward grimace.) 

“I forgive you! And - and if  _ you _ forgive  _ me _ , then we're even.” Lance smiles. 

“Well then, I guess we're even. Thanks for letting me stay as long as you did, Keith.” He stands up, and Keith stops him with a loose grip on his wrist. That last sentence…sounded far too final for his liking. 

“What do you mean by that?! You're not leaving yet, are you?” Lance pries Keith's fingers loose. He glances at the door, pushes it closed. 

“Yeah. I'm leaving. I can't stay here forever. I need to get back to work, or I'll be fired anyways and everything’ll be for nothing. I'll use wormholes to travel, I'll do whatever I'm told…” He closes his eyes for a moment, swallowing and sighing morosely. “I'm gonna be a ‘good’ Cupid, even if it means screwing up good matches.” His voice drops to a hoarse whisper as he cuts off Keith's incredulous protests with a raised finger. “A wingless Cupid is practically useless. I'm lucky I haven't been fired already - that's thanks to Coran. If I mess up at all, I get fired. I get fired…I die. Again. I  _ can't  _ go through it again.” He leaves before Keith can ask what the hell he meant by ‘again’, opening the door and calling for Pidge. Keith rushes to his feet, snagging a handful of his toga and tugging him backwards. Lance stumbles, trying to turn around and catch himself at the same time, and he ends up falling right into Keith. Keith catches him, surprised at how light he is. 

“Please stay.” he manages, voice quiet and desperate. He doesn't want Lance to leave again, doesn't want to let him go. As stupid as it seems based on how long he's known the Cupid, Keith has a crush on him.  _ He's not even human. Why am I doing this to myself? He'll live longer than I ever will. No one else can see him.  _

_ But he  _ _ seems _ _ human.  _

Lance's eyes are wide, and it's with a light dusting of pink on his cheeks and a dismayed, shocked tone that he whispers, 

“Oh,  _ Keith _ . Oh, no.” His eyes search Keith's, worried, and he swallows with difficulty before asking, “Keith, do you…do you have a crush on me?” Keith nods, getting red in the face as he does so. Keith's heart drops to his feet when Lance swears and shoves him away bodily, his one good wing flapping to steady himself as he stumbles backwards through the open door. “No. You can't. You  _ can't do that, Keith! I can't let you!”  _ His voice cracks as he goes high-pitched, frantic. Horrified. And Keith can feel his newly mended heart breaking all over again as Lance shoots him a frightened glare and spits, “Just forget about me, Keith.”As he turns away, he adds, “I don't feel the same, anyways.” With that, he leaves, and Keith hears the front door slam. 

This time, there's no anger - there's no one to blame but himself. He's been rejected again, and this time it's not on Lance. No arrows factored into this stupid crush. A pit yawns in Keith's stomach, sucking up all his emotions and leaving him with naught but crushing despair, and a feeling of vertigo as if he's standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the wind to blow him over. 


End file.
